


rot and bloom

by liveyourtemptation



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, M/M, Voyeurism, mars drama, space shenanigens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 07:45:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11398164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liveyourtemptation/pseuds/liveyourtemptation
Summary: “You know,” Hartley says, “I don't know anyone else who goes to such length to run away from their life except you two.”





	rot and bloom

„What do you think about him? Hm? What? Don't look like that. I just want to know your opinion.”

 

Cisco stares at Hartley who has taken a seat opposite of him in the common room with a mix of confusion and annoyance. They aren't friends. Hartley made that very clear. So it's a mystery to Cisco why Hartley wants to know what he thinks about the new guy.

 

“I just met the guy,” Cisco says slowly and busies himself with his soup.

 

But Hartley doesn't let go. He leans his elbows on the table and his face on his hands and stares over to where the guy is sitting a few tables down. He looks like he is about to sigh. “You know, he's Eobard's brother.”

 

“Figured,” Cisco says and glances over to the guy, too, to mask the shiver that runs down his spine. The similarities are astounding. Only that Eobard had always been a bit sleeker. And a bit more cheery. That kind of person that seems really great until you start to realize that they are only using you for their benefit. Cisco is done spending time on those kind of people. He startles when Hartley leans forward to whisper conspiratorially.

 

“His name is Harry. He's been in Deep Space for the last couple of years. Who knows what he saw there. It's all classified and shit. He doesn't talk very much. Very serious. Very sexy.” Hartley eyebrows rise higher and higher with every sentence.

 

“Okay?” Cisco says, not in the mood for Hartley's gossip but kind of intrigued despite himself. The Deep Space Exploration Program is one of the more mysterious NASA programs. Not like Cisco's small operation that would probably get a live stream if it would be more interesting to a wider public.

 

“Not interested?” Hartley leans back again with a shrug. “Less competition for me.”

 

“Knock yourself out,” Cisco says and rolls his eyes. Shit, he has to endure another week of this bullshit until they leave again and peace and quiet will return. There is a reason Cisco signed up for this job knowing that he would spend most of his time alone on the base.

 

Across the room Harry gets up and brings his empty bowl to the kitchen counter. When Cisco realizes he is still staring he could slap Hartley. He busies himself with his own soup again but senses more than he sees Harry come towards them. Cisco looks up when he stops in front of them.

 

“Thank you,” Harry says. “For the food,” He specifies.

 

“Sure,” Cisco answers, and yeah, his speech pattern is completely different from Eobard's.

 

Then Harry looks at Hartley as if he had heard exactly what they had talked about even though Hartley had been pretty quiet. Hartley lets his legs fall open and smirks up at him. Harry watches him with an unreadable expression, then nods to both of them and leaves the room.

 

God, this is going to be the longest week of Cisco's life.

 

Iris and Linda enter the common room through the air lock from the garden. They are both glowing from the sun outside, smiling and chattering.

 

“Did he already tell you all about tall, dark and handsome?” Linda asks Cisco, as she sits down next to him.

 

Hartley glares at her and Cisco laughs. “He told me enough.”

 

Iris shows him the display of her camera. “Your magnolia is coming really nice this year.” Cisco looks at the photograph but as always he feels like it is lacking something. Martian plants. Warrants enough interest on earth to send Cisco's favorite space reporters by from time to time. Though they don't really like that term. It sounds made up, Iris says. So Cisco only calls them that in his head.

 

“Do you really have to leave already?” Cisco asks. They arrived this morning together with Hartley and Harry.

 

“We gotta catch the last bus home,” Linda says and shrugs. This night a shuttle is bringing everyone down to earth for shore leave, at least everyone on the main base. Cisco doesn't take vacation. And Hartley and Harry are here on a mission.

 

“You boys be good while we're gone,” Iris says, warm brown eyes on Cisco.

 

Hartley snorts. Cisco sighs and nods.

 

The women leave and Cisco goes upstairs, the complete second floor forming one round room from where you can overlook the area. He opens the blinds to the direction of the main base. Its silver roofs sparkle in the distant. He follows the dust cloud of Iris and Linda's car that makes its way through the red dirt.

 

Later he goes into his garden, helmet tightly attached to his suit, and he is so used to it by now. How it feels to breath inside it, the knowledge that these thin layers of plastic are the only thing keeping him alive, how merciless the sun beats down on this planet.

 

Under the shades of the fruit trees he sees Harry sit and he leaves him alone.

 

Most of the work is automatized but Cisco has come to believe that everything living needs attention to grow. So he is not only the keeper of the irrigation system but also spends a lot of time simply watching the plants grow and harvests their fruits with his hands, covered in gloves but still touching.

 

After a while Cisco feels a burn on his back and he notices that Harry is watching him.

 

The sun is steadily falling downwards and then there is a stripe of white dust in the sky where the shuttle leaves the planet, silent over the distant. Cisco follows it with his eyes, hands in the earth, everything burning orange beyond the plateau his base is standing on. As the night falls they are the only people on the planet.

 

He notices that Harry is standing next to him, suddenly, looking up into the sky where the shuttle had just been. Cisco looks up at him but his face inside the helmet is shrouded in reflections and shadows.

 

“You can almost see it with your eyes now,” Harry says, the comm in Cisco's helmet coming alive with a crack, and because there isn't anyone else around Cisco assumes Harry is talking to him. He follows the line of Harry's outstretched arm to somewhere in the sky where the first stars are appearing. Is one of those light the meteor that is hurling towards them from the unknown depth of the universes? Harry seems to be able to identify it, and Cisco wonders if he has some sort of connection with it; both travelers to distant spaces.

 

“Why didn't you stay on the main base?” Cisco asks. “They have much better equipment for your purposes.”

 

Harry turns towards him now, considering. “Hartley said the same thing.” Cisco snorts, and Harry continues, “Your equipment is completely adequate for our task. We're mostly just supposed to watch the thing and its influence on this planet.”

 

Cisco looks up at the sky again, trying to see if one of the lights is getting bigger. “Let me rephrase my question: Why did you decide to stay here?”

 

“I wanted to see this,” Harry says, voice neutral and unwavering through the comm. Cisco looks at him, question unspoken, and Harry makes a gesture around them. “I heard about this garden. That it's supposed to be beautiful. Peaceful.”

 

Cisco swallows, and thinks about Harry in a spaceship somewhere far from home thinking about being here, in Cisco's garden.

 

“It is,” Harry says.

 

“What?” Cisco asks, chasing those thoughts away.

 

“Beautiful,” Harry says.

 

Cisco knows that, gets told so often, sees it himself every day, but something about the way Harry says it makes Cisco fluster.

 

“It would be peaceful, too, if we'd lock Hartley up in the tool shed.”

 

Harry laughs, and it's a surprising sound, rough and sharp but full of mirth. When he collects himself he crosses his arms and cocks his head to the side. “You don't like him very much, do you.”

 

“He doesn't like me,” Cisco counters and wipes his earth-stained hands over his pants.

 

“Why?” Harry asks.

 

“Why don't you ask him that,” Cisco mumbles

 

Cisco is not sure if Harry actually asks Hartley. Though he wouldn't put it past him. He seems like a person who would asks that kind of things without reservations. They do seem to get along, as far as Cisco can judge from the outside. Working side by side, having quiet conversations, watching the meteor through the telescope on the second floor, coming in after hours outside digging through dirt, exhausted and skin peeling from their faces from the sun burn. Cisco lives around their edges, tries to stay out of their way as much as possible, leaves them the sunscreen with some pointed remarks and retreats again. He already feels like he is intruding on something, even if it is just their work time.

 

But he can't always evade them, not on a base so small, not when there are certain things they all have to do; eat for example. Or keep healthy.

 

The basement of the base is cut into the rock underneath, the ground lined with wood. It had always looked too beautiful for a science base to Cisco; something about the light reflecting from the pool water and dancing over the rocks that makes it look sublime.

 

When he comes downstairs there is already someone else moving through the water; slow controlled movements that barely disturb the surface. Cisco sits down at the edge of the pool and hangs his legs into the water. The pool isn't natural but the water is, pumped from the depth to water the plants. And keep the humans alive. But that always seems to be an afterthought to NASA's engineers.

 

Harry must have seen him by now. Cisco knows he can't leave, not when he's already halfway in the water. Cisco leans back on his arms and looks up at the ceiling. He feels the water move around his legs.

 

Harry hoists himself out of the pool next to him, and Cisco is watching now, the way the muscles in his arms work and the water runs down his body. Cisco gets very aware of the fact that they are both only wearing swim shorts. Not that Cisco is self-conscious. Even though Harry would be a good reason to be.

 

Harry flicks his wet hair out of his face. “It still feels surreal.”

 

He is watching the pool and Cisco is watching him, drops of water running down his neck, his hand curling around the edge of the pool next to Cisco's thigh. “What?” He asks.

 

“The water,” Harry says and looks at Cisco. “When I started into Deep Space they still thought this planet was completely barren.”

 

“You've been gone a long time,” Cisco says and resists the urge to look away.

 

“Yeah,” Harry says, eyes still on Cisco. “A long long time.”

 

“What was it like?” Cisco asks. The dim light paints everything in a silver blue hue. Harry's hair looks even darker than usual and something seems to linger behind his eyes. He drops his gaze now and Cisco isn't sure if he is looking at Cisco's thighs or the floor between them.

 

“Boring,” Harry says. “Most of the time.”

 

“You're ruining my fantasies of heroic battles against scary aliens,” Cisco says, gaze trailing along the slope of Harry's nose.

 

“Sorry,” Harry says and looks up again. His voice is completely flat but there is glint in his eyes, or maybe it's just a reflection of the light.

 

“So, no aliens?” Cisco asks. Harry doesn't say anything, just cocks his head to the side and narrows his eyes. Cisco adds, “Not denying it is the same as admitting it.”

 

“Hardly,” Harry says and shakes his head. A few drops of water from his hair land on Cisco.

 

“How did you get into Deep Space, anyway?” Cisco asks. He leans forward and looks at his feet, their image distorted through the water.

 

“They were looking for people,” Harry says. Cisco thinks he is still watching him. “I fit the criteria.” After a pause he adds, “My fam- my brother didn't really support my decision.”

 

“Yeah, I bet,” Cisco says.

 

“You know him?” Harry asks. Cisco startles at the tone and looks to Harrison who wears a mix of surprise and interest on his face.

 

“Sadly,” Cisco says. “Wish I could get that time of my life back.”

 

“Oh,” is all Harry says.

 

“Oh no,” Cisco says quickly. “We weren't- no.”

 

“Okay,” Harry says and maybe Cisco is mistaken but he sounds amused.

 

“He's still a major dick, though,” Cisco says and looks back in the pool.

 

“I know,” Harry says.

 

Cisco sees him shift out of the corner of his eye, and he glides into the water before Harry's thigh can brush against his hand. He turns around to look at Harry while he drifts away from the edge. He hopes Harry doesn't take it as an invitation to follow. His heart is beating against his ribs. Harry just watches him with the hint of a smile on his face.

 

When Harry has left and Cisco is through with his usual routine he floats on the surface, trying to clear his head.

 

What infuriates Cisco the most is that Hartley turns into a bearable version of himself when Harry is around. He wants to believe that Hartley is playing nice. Or maybe Harry just brings out that side of him. Cisco doesn't examine why that makes him angry. There was a time when not everything Hartley did made him angry.

 

“You know,” Hartley says, “I don't know anyone else who goes to such length to run away from their life except you two.”

 

Cisco is already regretting taking up the offer of sharing the last couple of beers out of his storage.

 

“I'm not running away from anything,” Cisco says. “This guy is the one who signed up for Deep Space. The mars is just around the corner in comparison.”

 

Hartley just smiles, pitiful, leans back on the couch, arm brushing against Harry's next to him.

 

“There is a restriction on the time you are allowed in Deep Space,” Harry says, tapping his fingers against his beer bottle. “So I always knew that I would come back. As far as I know you could stay up here indefinitely.”

 

“I can't believe you two are ganging up on me like this,” Cisco grumbles.

 

“For real,” Hartley says. “When was the last time you were back on earth?”

 

Cisco wonders if what he is taking for condescending pity on Hartley's face might be concern. He shoves the thought far away again. “What does it matter,” He says and takes a swig of his beer.

 

“I guess, it doesn't,” Hartley says and rolls his eyes. Harry casually presses his leg against Hartley's. Cisco looks away.

 

There is silence for a moment. Then Harry says, “Can someone explain to me again why you don't like each other?”

 

“What?” Hartley snaps, sitting upright from where he had slouched against Harry. “Not like each other?”

 

“He,” Harry points at Cisco, “Said you don't like him.”

 

“You love starting shit, don't you,” Cisco says to Harry.

 

“It's not like I don't like him,” Hartley says, crossing his arms.

 

Cisco blinks at him. “ _You_ said we weren't friends.”

 

“What?” Hartley blinks back. “I didn't- - Oh, you mean that. I said that we are colleagues. Doesn't mean we can't be friendly.”

 

Cisco thinks back to that conversation. Yeah, maybe that's what Hartley had said. But it had sounded very differently to Cisco.

 

“So you've been fighting over a miscommunication this whole time?” Harry asks.

 

Hartley stares at Cisco with furrowed brows. “Maybe.” He waits a beat then he and Cisco both shake their heads. “No.”

 

“Yeah, no,” Cisco says to Harry. “He's annoying no matter what.”

 

“Yes,” Hartley says. “He's the worst.”

 

“Sure,” Harry says and there is that amused hint of a look again.

 

Hartley stands up and stretches. “I'm gonna get another beer. You want one, too?” He asks Cisco.

 

Cisco holds his gaze for a moment before he looks away. “Yeah, thanks.”

 

“Me, too,” Harry says.

 

“Get your own,” Hartley throws over his shoulder but Cisco is pretty sure he'll bring it anyway.

 

Cisco can't quite meet Harry's eyes when they are alone. He is not really sure what is happening here. It feels like something is unfurling inside of Cisco and what he could find buried underneath it scares him.

 

The next day Cisco joins Hartley on a mission a mile from his base. He doesn't know why he offered to help. They take one of the cars, Cisco's gloved hands closing tight around the wheel. Hartley cranes his neck to watch the landscape drift by. They leave the plateau, long winding slopes and then the endless stretch of the flat desert.

 

They collect samples. Shoving dirt into tubes. The red glow of the planet makes Hartley's suit appear orange instead of white. These are not the clunky suits that characterized the dawn of space travel. All life supporting device fit in the small space between skin and suit. They fit. Cisco looks away.

 

In the distant the reflecting roofs of the main base glimmer in the sunlight. Cisco is used to the heat but Hartley is swaying soon, breath short over the comms.

 

“Let's call it a day,” Cisco says.

 

Hartley doesn't reply, just looks at him. Then he looks up in the sky. The meteor a bright dot like a second sun.

 

Cisco takes the box of samples Hartley hands him over and secures them in the back of the car. Hartley chuckles, voice close to Cisco's ear.

 

“What are you laughing about?” Cisco asks, shaking his head involuntarily as if he could escape Hartley's too close voice like that.

 

“We should name it.”

 

“I think it already has a name.”

 

“Yeah,” Hartley says, drawing out the word. “Some letters and numbers. I mean a real name.”

 

Cisco gets into the car. “Whatever.” He doesn't know what he should think about giving a flying rock a name. He doesn't give his plants names either. It's too anthropomorphic for his taste.

 

“By how far does it miss the earth?” Cisco asks later.

 

He is leaning at the top of the stairs to the observatory. The roof opens to allow the use of the telescope.

 

“Why do you care?” Hartley asks, looking into the telescope. Harry just stares at him.

 

Cisco scoffs. He leans against the wall. “Did you name it yet?”

 

Harry walks over to him and leans next to him against the wall. He leans closer to say quietly, “I think he is going to call it baby.”

 

“Hey, I heard that,” Hartley yells still not looking away from the telescope.

 

Cisco feels a laugh fight its way out of his throat. He bites down the smile and looks at Harry. He still hasn't leaned back, watching Cisco with close attention. Cisco straightens up. When he turns to leave Hartley is looking in their direction. Cisco doesn't try to read his look.

 

In the night Cisco wakes up from dreams and stumbles into the common room to get a glass of water. It takes him a moment to notice that there is light coming from upstairs. And quiet noises. He puts down the half empty glass on the counter and slowly walks up the stairs.

 

On the second floor there are gliding panels to create a smaller room in the middle. Those panels are all closed now, soft light penetrating through the milky fabric. The sounds are louder now. Cisco knows he should go back downstairs. Go back to sleep.

 

He walks closer, treading as silently as possible. When he reaches the panels he closes his eyes and listens. There is shifting, movement. The creaking of the floor. Shuffling, a sound like something soft being thrown to the ground. Then a moan so low and guttural that the hairs on Cisco's arms stand.

 

He opens his eyes again. He moves silently two panels to the left accompanied by a needy whine that turns into a whispered name. Cisco knows that this panel moves almost inaudibly. He cracks it open just so that he can see inside with one eye.

 

Cisco sees bare skin. Harry's hand gliding over Hartley's ribs. The way Hartley throws his head back and moans. Harry between his legs. Cisco follows the line of Hartley's back with his eyes when he arches from the ground. Harry leans up to kiss Hartley, hard, hungry. Cisco closes his hand around the edge of the panel. Harry seems to whisper something to Hartley who takes a deep breath, chest heaving. Then he nods.

 

Cisco feels hot all over. He covers his mouth with one hand, his heart jackrabbit in his chest. Hartley fists one hand in Harry's hair and Harry breaks his rhythm momentarily, leaning down for another kiss. Cisco feels dizzy, like the floor is going to swallow him. The broad planes of Harry's shoulders. The way Hartley's eyes flutter shut. Cisco staggers back, shiver down his spine. The noises follow him down the stairs.

 

The next morning finds Cisco cutting back the branches of the apple tree. He stops to throw a look into the sky. The meteor is so much closer than yesterday. He wonders if Hartley and Harry are already up to set up their video monitoring.

 

Inside the air lock he meets Harry.

 

“Here, let me.” Harry opens the locks on Cisco helmet and takes it off, placing it on it's place in a space inside the wall. Cisco doesn't say anything. Quickly gets out off his suit before Harry offers to help with that, too.

 

Inside Hartley is lounging on the couch, obviously waiting for Cisco to prepare breakfast. He has a lazy smile on his face.

 

“Do you miss it?” Cisco asks later.

 

It's evening. They are sitting on the second floor, observing the meteor through the big windows. It's large in the sky. Hartley watches Harry with curiosity.

 

“Not actively,” Harry says, pushing the salad over the plate with his fork and looking outside. “I think I got used to it.”

 

“I've heard talk about them shutting down Deep Space,” Hartley says.

 

Harry nods. “Some things.” He smiles at Hartley. “Some things we should let come to us. Not seek them out.”

 

Cisco could swear Hartley is blushing. “He's talking about aliens now, right?” He says to Cisco.

 

“I think he is doing it on purpose,” Cisco says. He looks down on his plate. “To rile us up.”

 

Harry laughs quietly. Hartley sighs deeply. “Well, it's working.”

 

Cisco inspects the salad leaves on his plate closely. He's grown them himself, the color more purple than green.

 

“Cisco.”

 

There is movement. Cisco looks up when Harry pulls his plate out of the way. Harry's face is unreadable. Cisco instinctively looks out of the window. But doesn't back away. He feels Harry's breath on his cheek. The meteor has grown even closer, his movement visible now.

 

“Tell me to stop.”

 

Cisco closes his eyes. There is someone behind him, hands on his shoulders. Harry's finger on his chin turning his face. Cisco knows it's Hartley pulling his hair out of the way, nosing along his neck. He curls his hands in his lap. Harry's lips brush over his.

 

Cisco opens his eyes and turns his face in time to see the meteor. Entering the atmosphere of the Mars. Harry hums, nipping at Cisco's jaw until Hartley gasps. The meteor is falling fast now. They sit still, Hartley's arms around Cisco and Harry digging his fingers into Cisco's arms as it makes it way down to the ground. It's quiet except their breathing.

 

The impact is loud. The meteor engulfs the main Mars base in orange dust. A second later the shock wave knocks them over, the earth rumbling beneath them. Then it's quiet again. Cisco stares at the ceiling. The sinking sun disappears on the horizon, letting the few dust particles in the room dance in its last rays. They are alone.

 


End file.
